Opposites Attract

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

Kira had recently moved to the neighborhood and was not all that familiar with the way around there. To lessen the feeling of not belonging and wanting to settle in faster, she decided to go on a bike ride as she had done every day before moving. She rode without a destination in mind, deciding which turns to take and what areas to approach as she went. From what she had seen so far, everything was peaceful. The houses were well-kept and the front yards were a healthy dark green color. Some even had luscious gardens decorating the front entrances. She particularly liked this one part of the neighborhood. There were small children playing out in front yards, and parents watching them enjoy themselves from afar. She couldn't be any happier with her place of choice for moving.

Soon enough, it was beginning to get into the evening and Kira decided it was time to head back home and finish unpacking. She made a quick u-turn and began pedaling back towards her street. As she was doing so, she saw someone new out in their front yard, doing what seemed to be watering their plants. As she got closer, she made out the shape of a girl. The girl hadn't noticed Kira yet, but Kira watched as the girl stood up and wiped sweat off her brow, a frown on her face. Kira observed the girl to be around her age, although her stature, or, well, height, was that of a middle schooler instead of a high schooler. Kira rolled in front of the girl's yard, and the girl, as though feeling Kira's stare, finally looked up. They made eye contact and held it, Kira too scared to look away but then realizing it might be creepy for someone you don't know to make eye contact for such a long period of time. Then before Kira could panic even more, the girl finally broke into a small smile, and even from that distance Kira couldn't help but notice the dimples that showed through. Kira was startled by the change in expression, and it caused her to lose control of the bicycle and hurtle straight for a telephone pole. Before she could react and get out of the way, it was too late, and a moment later she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head and her nose. Kira could see white spots in her vision and it took her a second to come to and realize she was lying down. She tried getting up and soon felt a small hand on her back, and a voice accompanying it.

"Hey, careful now..", it said.

Kira didn't recognize the voice and looked over to see who it belonged to. She was surprised to find the same girl that had distracted her with the smile to be....cradling her in her lap? Kira quickly sat up and turned around to face her.

"Ahh..sorry! About that. I wasn't, uh, paying attention to where i was going, I'm sorry, this doesn't usually happen, and I promise you I can ride a bike, I just don't know what happened..", Kira trails off as she sees that same smile on the girls face as she watches her ramble on.

The smile soon turns into a laugh, and the sound resonates within Kira. Her laugh, the girl's, it was that kind of laugh that you couldn't help but like, the warm, infectious, bubbly kind of laugh that made you follow along. And sure enough, Kira soon enough started laughing too.

"No, no, it's okay, really, I don't know why you're apologizing? You just had an accident, are you sure you're okay?" the girl asks her.

"Oh, right, yeah, no I'm ok, really..." Kira trails off as she feels something warm trickle down from her nose. "Eh...?" she reaches out to touch it, but the girl quickly grabs her hand and stops her from doing so

"Hey! You're bleeding! Don't touch it, okay? We don't know how messed up it is, and for all we know you, could make it worse. I have a first aid kit in my house, I can go get that if you want. I'm not that experienced but I'm pretty sure I could make it work, or if you'd rather go to a hospital, I could drive you. Whatever you'd rather do is fine, so what'll it be?"

Unknown to the girl, Kira had long ago stopped paying attention to what she was saying, she was distracted by....other things, like how genuinely worried the girl actually seemed. Like how she had a small upturned frown and her eyebrows were scrunched up, probably racking her head about what to do, and how just like before, two small dimples stuck out. Or the fact that the girl had grabbed Kira's hand to stop her from injuring herself, but had not let go since. Their hands remained together and Kira couldn't help but notice the girls small hand compared to hers, or her warmth, or how it fit so perfectly against hers...

Kira quickly looks up and sees the girl looking at her, and it takes her a moment to register that she was waiting for her answer on what to do. Strangely enough though, Kira didn't feel anything wrong, instead she felt somewhat...fuzzy, or warm. Must be the aftershock?

Kira slowly shifts her eyes to the girl once more. She studies her and remains silent before deciding something and finally speaking up.

"Hey...," she starts, and the girl perks up, awaiting her answer, but instead she sees Kira's mouth turn upwards from one corner, in a small, soft, one-sided smile.

"Maybe now's not the best of times, but....is it ok if I ask for your name?" Kira asks.

The girl is thrown off by her question and the smile that she stammers a bit.

"My...? Oh-ah, yeah, that's right--sorry, my name is Liv" she says.

"Liv.." Kira repeats. She pauses for a second and smiles again, a full one this time.

"It's really nice to meet you, Liv. I'm Kira", she replies.

Liv's expression softens, and she smiles too.

"it's nice to meet you too, Kira", she says.

They stay like that for a moment, neither of them saying anything else.

"Ah, the bleeding!" Liv suddenly remembers.

"...Oh," Kira says, "Right. Hey, uh, if it's still fine, I think I'll take you up on that offer and have you patch me up?"

Liv quickly lets go of her hand and jumps up, then holds out her hand once more, smiling down at her.

"Okay then, let's go inside and get that patching done with."

Kira look at Liv's outstretched hand, and then at her, another faint smile on her face. She reaches for Liv's hand.

"Alright then, lead the way."